from memory I was of the understandig Bill Bagshaw used a 3800 J converter, it was the hot ticket of the times

A friend ran a low compression 400 with a fairly large cam, and it ran good. The car also had an 8" converter, and 4.88:1 gears, so it's not a dog when operating at 4,000+ RPM
Reminds me of Mopar Muscles' 400 HP 318 with no dyno numbers below 3,000 RPM, but at 3,000 RPM torque was 332, and jumped 44 ft/lbs to 376 @ 3,500 RPM?

Here is the article from Hi Performance Cars magazine published some time in '78. If these aren't clear enough then I will scan it and repost. The right mouse key isn't working here at the library so I can't rotate the pictures.

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nice read..

Haven't read about 50' times too much lately! When did the 60' become the standard measure of launch quickness?

Good read but is this the article the OP was talking about? I was hoping to see the .557 cam but the spring pack they used couldn't handle it.

Here is a scanned version for easier reading (even though it is the wrong article )

I took those articles as gospel in the day. Today, not so much.

Sheldon

446acuda,

THANKS so much for scanning that article. It made it much easier for me to read!

That is such a cool combo. You can really tell where the aftermarket parts were directed to at that time. Lots of production/used parts that were readily available on a budget got into the mix. An 8&1/4 rearend with an 11 sec motor!! Cast iron intake, factory converter, a TQ, and the old garden variety (used to hold up your tomato plant) MP 484 and 509 bumpsticks!!

Doesn't seem like anyone would dare to leave home with a set-up like that today!

Got a similar pkg to pull together for a J-body here at the moment.

This is the direction I'm going with my 67 Coronet: smog 400, ported stock heads heavily milled for some compression, 509 cam, M1 single plane, 4.10 gears and a hi stall. Cheap way to get a decently quick car